South Korea’s ex-president breathing on a respirator

Seoul, July 16 (DPA) South Korea’s former president and Nobel peace laureate in 2000 Kim Dae Jung is breathing on a respirator in hospital, a spokesman for a Seoul hospital said Thursday. The 83-year-old’s condition is not life-threatening, a spokesman for Severance Hospital said.

Kim has been ill for a long time and was placed under intensive care Wednesday after suffering from pneumonia, the national news agency Yonhap reported.

The former dissident under South Korea’s military regime was president between 1998 and 2003.

In June 2000, he attended the first inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang. He agreed trust-building measures with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and steps to overcome the division of the Korean peninsula.

He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his struggle for democracy and human rights as well as reconciliation with North Korea.